Monday, April 22, 2013

Growing up in San Diego, I've driven by the U-Pick Strawberry Farm in Carlsbad literally hundreds of times in my life. It's right there off the freeway on your way to or from San Diego. I always thought it would be fun to go, but never had that push I needed to actually do it. Last year my friend's blog post on it made me really want to go, but being busy a busy family with one day together a week, it passed us by. This year my friend blogged about it again and I wrote it on the calendar on our next free Monday. I knew Becker was at an age where this would be something we would all really enjoy. Heading into our second trimester with our newbie on the way I am actually feeling fairly decent as well which is a bonus after the past 12 weeks. I wanted to check out the Carlsbad Flowers too as they look amazing, but alas one thing at a time. We barely made it home for Becker's nap as it was. When Becker does manage to fall asleep in the car it is often 10 minutes before we get home which leads to a wide awake little boy as soon as we park the car. Anyway, onto our super fun morning.

It was quite cool and cloudy when we got to the strawberry farm, but the sun came out beautifully by the time we left. Going early had a big perk of being some of the first people there. We purchased a large bucket and headed down to some empty rows of berries to let Becker free. This was the perfect place for him! He could run, eat and explore and was contained within a small skinny barrier of strawberry rows. He isn't tall enough to climb over them and was perfectly content inspecting each plant and snacking as we walked through along. He kept exclaiming "Look at this big, red, ripe strawberry!" as he pulled them from the plants and stuffed them into his mouth. He did more eating than collecting, but that's half the fun right? I loved how the strawberry juice ran down his little face, staining his chin with each bite. He was sporting proof of our appetite for strawberries. We all enjoyed the fresh picked juicy fruit and farm scenery. The tractors in the distance were a sight for Becker and we broke the news that they were just for the workers and we couldn't take a ride. One of the rows had a few puddles of fresh mud and wouldn't you know it, I turned around to see Becker up to his ankels in mud splashing away. Every bit a boy, this kiddo loves dirt!

When I couldn't fill the bucket anymore without berries toppling out, we decided to head back to the car. Originally we thought we would eat lunch near the farm, but we all had bellies full of strawberries so there was no room for any more food. We took our bounty home and those strawberries filled the largest bowl we have! I know we will plow through them fresh from the counter pretty quick, but might also try to dry some in to oven for a tasty treat. Here are some fun photos of our morning.